BEIJING, 22 Mar: China on Wednesday said President Xi Jinping\u2019s just-concluded visit to Russia was a \u201cjourney of friendship, cooperation and peace,\u201d and again criticized Washington for providing military support to Ukraine.
\nThe trip that ended Wednesday signaled no new progress in ending the bloody conflict between Russia and Ukraine while shoring up President Vladimir Putin\u2019s standing amid growing efforts to isolate him and his government internationally.
\nChinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin reiterated China\u2019s claims that it remains neutral in the conflict and said it had \u201cno selfish motives on the Ukraine issue, has not stood idly by … or taken the opportunity to profit itself.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat China has done boils down to one word, that is, to promote peace talks,\u201d Wang said at a daily briefing.
\nWang also accused the U.S. of lacking impartiality and of \u201cfanning the flames\u201d of the conflict by providing defensive weapons to Ukraine to Washington\u2019s own benefit.
\nThe U.S., NATO and partner nations have openly supported Kyiv since the start of the conflict, and China is widely seen as providing economic backing for Putin\u2019s regime while avoiding being directly involved.
\n\u201cPresident Xi Jinping\u2019s visit to Russia is a journey of friendship, cooperation and peace, which has aroused positive responses in the international community,\u201d Wang said.
\nChina would \u201ccontinue to play a constructive role in pro-moting a political settlement of the Ukrainian issue,\u201d Wang said, an apparent reference to a 12-point peace proposal put forward by Beijing that calls for a ceasefire and negotiations.
\nThe document has already been dismissed by the West, largely because China \u2014 which has said it has a \u201cno-limits\u201d relationship with Moscow \u2014 is not seen as an impartial broker and the proposal says nothing about a Russian withdrawal from Ukrainian territory it has occupied by force.
\nXi\u2019s visit was heavily promoted by both China and Russia but was overshadowed by a visit to Kyiv by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan, a close U.S. ally and a key Chinese rival in east Asia.
\nEarly Wednesday, Ukraine faced a new series of Russian drone attacks, which killed at least three people and damaged some infrastructure across the country.
\nThe U.S. and others have continued to express concerns that China may provide military equipment to supplement its purchases of Russian energy resources and provision of computer chips to keep the Russian economy afloat.
\nThe New York Times on Tuesday said Russia had purchased more than $12 million in drones and drone parts from China in the year since the invasion began, citing official Russian customs data provided from a source it did not identify.
\nThe paper said it was difficult to tell whether the drones contain American technologies. It said the shipments included products from DJI, which is among the world\u2019s leading makers of commercial drones, as well as smaller companies, and were often channeled through a web of brokers and smaller export firms.
\nIn other comments on Ukraine, Wang said Russia and China agreed that the U.N. Charter must be observed and international law be respected. It said they opposed unilateral sanctions imposed by the U.S. and others to economically punish Putin and his financial backers.
\nWang said nothing about the arrest warrant issued for Putin by the International Criminal Court on charges of alleged involvement in abductions of thousands of children from Ukraine.
\nIn a joint statement signed in Moscow, Russia and China emphasized the need to \u201crespect legitimate security concerns of all countries\u201d to settle the conflict, echoing Moscow\u2019s argument that it sent in troops to prevent the U.S. and its NATO allies from turning the country into an anti-Russian bulwark.
\n\u201cThe two sides pointed out that the solution to the Ukraine crisis must respect the legitimate security concerns of all countries and prevent the formation of bloc confrontation and fanning flames,\u201d Wang said Wednesday in Beijing.
\n\u201cThe two sides stressed that responsible dialogue is the best way to resolve the issue steadily,\u201d Wang said.
\n\u201cTo this end, the international community should support relevant constructive efforts, and the two sides call for the cessation of all actions that could lead to a tense situation and prolonged war, so as to avoid further deterioration or even loss of control of the crisis,\u201d he said. (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEIJING, 22 Mar: China on Wednesday said President Xi Jinping\u2019s just-concluded visit to Russia was a \u201cjourney of friendship, cooperation and peace,\u201d and again criticized Washington for providing military support to Ukraine. The trip that ended Wednesday signaled no new progress in ending the bloody conflict between Russia and Ukraine while shoring up President Vladimir […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-213409","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213409\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}